Venice Lagoon and Po River Cruises

ABOVE: CroisiEurope's Michelangelo
offers 4- to 6-day cruises of the Venetian Lagoon and the Po River Valley.

Until a few years ago, a
number of companies operated Po River cruises from Venice. Today, there are
three:

CroisiEurope, a French
company that offers 4- to 6-day cruises of the Venetian Lagoon and the Po
aboard Michelangelo (see photo above).

Nicko Tours, a Germany
firm that recently brought a river ship, Bellissima, to Venice for
a program similar to CroisiEurope's.

Uniworld is a U.S.-based
luxury river-cruising line that caters to English-speaking travelers. In
2013, the company is offering seven-night cruises in Venice and the Po River
Valley, with day trips to Bologna, Padua, Ravenna, and Verona. Cruises are
on River Countess, which is a notch up the comfort and price scale
from its competitors' ships. (See our review of a 2012
Seine River cruise
with Uniworld, and check theItaly pages at Uniworld.com for
Venice cruise details.)

Things to know:

River cruises normally depart from Venice's
San Basilio
pier and spend part of their time moored along the
Riva dei
Sette Martiri, a waterfront promenade above the Piazza San Marco facing
St. Mark's Basin. The latter is a delightful place to spend the night on a
ship, especially if your cabin is on the water side: You can open your
window or balcony door in the morning, stick your heads out,
and look into the eyes of vaporetto passengers as water buses
arrive and depart from the Giardini vaporetto platform.

Venetian Lagoon and Po River cruises are more about land
excursions than cruising: Much of your time will be spent on buses or land
tours, with the cruise vessel serving as a floating hotel.